The Popular Party and the Union of the People of Navarre (UPN) have reached a preliminary agreement to run in coalition for the general elections on the upcoming November 29, as confirmed by popular sources to EFE. The pact still needs to be ratified by the internal bodies of UPN, which will hold a meeting this Tuesday to decide whether both formations will share a candidacy in Navarre after running separately in 2023.
The negotiations have been led by the president of UPN, Cristina Ibarrola, and the general secretary of the PP, Miguel Tellado. According to Diario de Navarra, the bulk of the agreement was outlined in recent days and both leaders held an in-person meeting on Saturday at the national headquarters of the PP, on Génova street in Madrid.
UPN has the final word on the coalition
The Political Council of UPN is convened this Tuesday at 8:00 PM in Pamplona to examine the agreement. This body has the authority to decide on the pacts and electoral coalitions of the party, so its approval is necessary before formalizing the joint candidacy.
Among the negotiated issues are the distribution of positions on the lists for Congress and the Senate, the representation of each party, and the autonomy that UPN parliamentarians would retain. It must also be specified whether the regionalist deputies would maintain a parliamentary affiliation different from that of the PP.
On the part of the populars, the ratification depends on Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to whom the National Executive Board delegated decisions on electoral alliances. The deadline to formally communicate the electoral coalitions ends this Friday, October 16, so both parties have three days to complete the procedures.
The return of an alliance that broke in 2023
UPN and PP ran together in the general elections since 1982, with the exception of the elections in July 2023. At that time, the differences over the distribution of positions in the candidacies prevented the renewal of the agreement and the two formations ended up competing against each other.
The breakup was preceded by the confrontation caused by deputies Sergio Sayas and Carlos García Adanero, who disobeyed UPN's discipline during the vote on the labor reform of 2022. Both ended up joining the PP, which deteriorated the relations between the leaderships of the two parties.
In the general elections of 2023, the PP obtained about 57,100 votes in Navarra and UPN nearly 52,200, enough to secure one deputy each. The PSOE achieved two seats and EH Bildu one, in a constituency that distributes five representatives in Congress.
The sum of the votes of both formations then exceeded 109,000 votes, above the approximately 93,500 of the PSOE. However, that comparison does not automatically allow for the results to be transferred to a joint candidacy, as the distribution of seats depends on the effective votes of each list and on participation.
The understanding would also have consequences for the candidacies for the Senate. In 2023, the PSOE obtained three of the four senators elected by Navarra and UPN secured the fourth, with María Caballero.
The president of the managing committee of the Navarra PP, Sergio Sayas, had already expressed this Monday the willingness of his party to recover the coalition. The final decision is now in the hands of UPN, whose Political Council must pronounce this afternoon on the pre-agreement reached with the national popular leadership.